Newsletter - 2002 - February

InsaneScouter News

Volume: 2

Issue: 2

February 2002

Thank you for subscribing to the InsaneScouters monthly newsletter. It is our intention to provide you with information and resources to help you run your units program. Please reply to this newsletter if you have any suggestions on how we can better help you.

We are in the process of creating a new service for all our guests, an "InsaneScouters Scout Tip" Box. This box webmasters may use on their websites to provide their visitors with random tips relating to Scouting and the outdoors. Please email us any tips you may like to share with Scouters. Furthermore, we are also in the search of stories of Scouts in action for future articles we are working on.

On January 18, 2002 our site was off-line, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused. This outage was a result of server updates to increase our reliability.

Materials needed for each person involved with the ceremony: 1 Strip of leather about 7 inches long 1 pony bead of each color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Color streamers can either be attached to walls or placed on the floor where the colors are to stand---for a nice touch.

Narrative:

Once upon a time the colors of the world started a quarrel: all claimed that they were the best, the most important, the most useful, the favorite.

RED shouted out: "I am the ruler of all of you ---I am blood---lifes blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."

ORANGE started next to blow her trumpet: "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangos, and pawpaws. I dont hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."

YELLOW chuckled: "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun."

GREEN said:; "Clearly, I am the most important. I am the sign of life and hope. I was chosen for grass, trees, leaves---without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."

BLUE interrupted: "You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, all of you would be nothing."

INDIGO spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination: "Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me, all of you become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."

VIOLET rose to her full height. She was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the color of loyalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me---they listen and obey."

And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly, there was a startling flash of bright lightning...thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing closer to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamor, rain began to speak: "You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Dont you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands. The rain continued: "From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The rainbow is a sign of friendship and hope for tomorrow."

And so, whenever the rain washes the world, look up... and as the rainbow appears in the sky, let us all remember our friendships new and old... and that tomorrow is always a new day."

In the early 1900s, One of the BSAs "founding fathers", and a great woodsman, illustrator, and naturalist, was Daniel Carter Beard. It was he who brought the "Outing in Scouting", the pioneering spirit, and the wisdom of outdoor adventuring to the Boy Scouts of America. Already 60 years old when the Boy Scouts of America was formed, he became one of the founders and merged it with his own boys organization, the Sons of Daniel Boone. As the first National Scout Commissioner, Daniel Beard helped design the original Scout uniform and introduced the elements of the First Class Scout badge. "Uncle Dan," as he was known to boys and leaders, will be remembered as a colorful figure dressed in buckskin who helped form Scouting in the United States.

--END--

Please feel free to forward our newsletter on to anyone it may benefit.